The Archive

Goodwill went out of the window when the British government banned Palestinian youth players from touring north-west England. Richard Bagley explains football’s importance in Gaza and the West Bank

An away match at Chester probably wouldn’t be a highlight of most international footballers’ careers. But, to a group of talented young players from Palestine, it promised to be one of the most memorable experiences in their lives. A project called Palestine: Something to Cheer About had secured the backing of the English FA, the Professional Footballers’ Association and a host of other bodies for its effort to use the positive power of football to help teenagers in one of the most deprived areas on earth. But the Under-19 tour fell at the final hurdle – and, to the organisers’ disgust, without even a squeak of protest from the footballing authorities.

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A new DVD about spectators around the world could do with a touch more explanation, but Al Needham still finds the spectacle enthralling

If Danny Dyer’s Real Football Factories: International has taught us anything (apart from a couple of dozen new descriptions for men in Stone Island jackets running at each other with their arms out), it’s that Johnny Foreigner has left us in the dust when it comes to football violence. Even though you couldn’t shake off the feeling that each “firm” will have been reminding each other to get their balaclavas on straight so their mums wouldn’t notice, it was a timely reminder that people can still get worked up about football without a television company or marketing agency having to tell them to.

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Germany’s former captain believes he is destined for managerial greatness. No one else agrees. Paul Joyce reports on the coaching career of the German Bryan Robson

Lothar Matthäus is by no means the only former player to harbour delusions of managerial adequacy. Yet after five posts in six years, the coaching career of Germany’s most-capped international has a uniquely self-destructive trajectory. Convinced that he is not getting his fair dues, in terms of respect, money or a position that befits his stature, “Loddar” manages to talk his way out of jobs with the misplaced confidence of a cartoon labrador about to step on a rake.

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Racist incidents in games between Serbian and British sides have rightly led to condemnation – but not always of the right people, argues Jonathan Wilson. Some of the outrage is counter-productive, too

There is no subject more certain to set forth tidal waves of sanctimony than racism. Discussion has become impossible, largely because British football has been so successful in its campaign against racism that it now feels compelled to lecture the rest of the world on the subject. It isn’t helping.

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Dear WSC
Who made the biggest blunder on the second weekend of the Premier League season? Rob Styles gave a dodgy penalty for Chelsea against Liverpool, but was this the worst example of a paid professional making a basic error that affected the outcome of a game? What about Jens Lehmann’s rubber wrists against Blackburn? Tony Warner at Fulham flapped at a daisy-cutter, while in the same game Clint Dempsey missed a gaping net from six yards out, a goal even Styles could have scored. Yet these players weren’t endlessly lambasted by the pundits and will not be forced (by their professional body at least) to sit out a game or two until they’ve learned their lesson. This strikes me as a double standard that fans and managers alike should be ashamed of. Either that or Carlos Tévez should be made to sit in the naughty chair at next week’s game for missing a simple far-post header in the derby game
Mark Lewsey, Glasgow

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